


Homework

by whatisthisreally



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Janus and Virgil Don't Like Each Other, Kid Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Kid Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Kid Deceit | Janus Sanders, Kid Logic | Logan Sanders, Kid Morality | Patton Sanders, Kid Thomas Sanders, Light Angst, i think that's the right tag for this, i'm not sure, there's a scene between virgil and janus at the end, they're all kids, you get the point
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 15:07:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28672731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whatisthisreally/pseuds/whatisthisreally
Summary: A fic set around the time Virgil "upgraded from small nuisance to giant thorn in our side", in which Virgil attempts to help Thomas with his homework.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 34





	Homework

**Author's Note:**

> This was written in 2019 and edited in 2021.
> 
> Also, if anybody could come up with a better title, that would be greatly appreciated.

_ This is boring and it doesn't make sense and I'm  _ tired _ , _ whined Virgil inside his head. Out loud, he only said, "You're not going to finish your math homework, Thomas."

"Of course he is," was Princey's attempt at a retort.

"No, he isn't," responded Virgil. "Or he's going to fall asleep in—" Virgil's words were cut off by an ironically timed yawn. "In class tomorrow. Or both," he finished.

Princey looked at him strangely. "Did you just yawn?" he asked.

"Yeah, so what?" was Virgil's reply, his tone defensive. _ Is he going to make fun of me for  _ yawning _? Of course he is, he's Princey, _ thought Virgil, mentally facepalming. _ Why do I even bother trying to catch a break? _

"Sometimes I forget that you're actually another part of Thomas and not just something that exists solely to annoy the rest of us. So you kind of surprised me," Princey said. He looked over at Morality, Logic, and Thomas. "Didn't Anxiety surprise you guys?"

_ Well, that's weird _ , thought Virgil.  _ Either he's really bad at insults, or he wasn't even trying to insult me. What's that about? What's he planning? _

"Not really," said Morality.

"You're distracting us," said Logic. "Now, Thomas, you divide  _ this _ number by  _ this _ number, and you add  _ this _ number to the quotient. Anxiety, you're casting a shadow on the paper. Really, must you sit on the table?"

"Yes," answered Virgil, because he didn't feel like cooperating and the table was comfortable _.  _ Princey rolled his eyes at Virgil's stubbornness.

"I don't see why you three have to be here," said Logic. "None of you are helping. Anxiety and Princey are just arguing, and Morality is just sitting there making completely irrelevant puns every now and then."

"Maybe we should just go to bed," suggested Morality.

_ Bad plan, _ thought Virgil.  _ I'm not going to sleep when Thomas is still out of bed and doing things, something could happen. Plus, Remus and Janus might still be up. _

"Yeah, probably," said Princey.

_ Wait, what?  _ thought Virgil, startled.  _ Oh, he's agreeing with Morality, why would I think he heard my thought? _ "No, not happening," Virgil said.

"Why not?" asked Morality. "You're clearly tired."

"Because," said Virgil.  _ Because if I go back now I'm less likely to actually get to go to bed, and if I stay as long as I can, maybe the others will get tired of waiting? Remus, at least, might. _

"Aaand this is why I forget you don't exit for the sole purpose of annoying us," said Princey. "I mean, yeesh. At least come up with a reason."

"No," said Virgil.

"Are you refusing to come up with a reason or saying that your reason is 'no'?" Princey asked.

"Yes," said Virgil, a smirk finding its way onto his face.  _ Doesn't he know he isn't supposed to act like he's bothered? Obvious opening for anyone to get past your defenses. _

"Yes to the first thing or the second thing?"

"Yes."

"Yes what?!"

"No."

Princey stood up. "I'm done dealing with you. Good night." With that, he sank out.

"Oh, good," said Virgil.

"Don't be rude," said Morality.

"Tell Princey not to be rude," retorted Virgil indignantly.  _ Stupid comeback, he can't reprimand Princey because he isn't here anymore, and even if he could, he wouldn't. _

"Either help or go to bed," said Logic.

"No and no," said Virgil.

"Can you at least stop arguing with everyone?" asked Thomas.

"I  _ can _ ," said Virgil.  _ Logic will react to that, I won't have to figure out what else to say to Morality. _

" _ Will _ you?" Logic asked.

"Probably not," Virgil answered.

"Well, I don't think I can help much with math, so I'm going to bed," said Morality. "Good night, kiddos!" he added as he sank out.

_ I'm alone with Thomas and Logic. What could go wrong? _ Virgil thought sarcastically.

Logic turned back to the worksheet and moved on to the next problem. "Okay, so you add  _ this _ to  _ this _ , then multiply the sum by  _ this _ and subtract  _ this _ ."

"Hurry up," said Virgil.

"Why?" asked Logic.

Virgil had a feeling he was beginning to push Logic's buttons. "Because you need to finish soon," he answered.

"He's kind of right," said Thomas.

"Yeah, I am, so hurry up," Virgil repeated.

"Quit being so pessimistic, Anxiety," said Logic.

"You do realize that's pretty much my job, right?" Virgil asked.

"Well, your job doesn't seem to be necessary right now," was Logic's reply.

_ We both know you want to add, "or ever", _ Virgil thought. "Too bad, I'm not going to stop doing it," he said.

"Just ignore him," said Thomas.

"Says the person who less than a minute ago said I was right," Virgil retaliated.  _ Don't ignore me, don't ignore me, a million things could go wrong if you ignore me and I wouldn't be able to get you out of a single one, I need to stop you from ignoring me— _

"Will you please stop telling us to do the work and actually let us do the work?" asked Logic a bit sharply, inadvertently cutting off Virgil's train of thought.

"Fine, but I'm not going away," Virgil said, internally sighing with relief.

"I didn't expect you to," sighed Logic in resigned exasperation, before turning to Thomas and continuing to work through the problem.

Virgil stayed silent through the next few problems, but he could only restrain himself for so long. He burst out, "You might be doing it wrong, and if you get even one answer wrong, the teacher might call on you to answer that one. This might be the wrong page, and the teacher probably won't let you do the right page late. Your classmate might ask to copy your homework and then you'll have to decide whether to let them or not and Morality will be really confused. You might lose your homework and then you'll have stayed up really late to finish it for no reason."

Logic interrupted, "Stop it, Anxiety! This is already unpleasant without you making it worse!"

"I  _ know _ it's unpleasant, I don't like it either, okay?" said Virgil.  _ No, that's Remy's tone of voice, bad plan, they never listen to him. _

"Then leave," said Logic. "Nothing's keeping you here."

"As far as  _ you _ know," said Virgil.

"And what, exactly, are you implying that you know that I don't?" Logic's tone was dangerous.

Thankfully, Thomas stepped in, unknowingly saving Virgil from having to express his… slightly more sensitive worries. "Can we just… get this done?"

"That would be a sensible course of action, if Anxiety here can refrain from interfering," Logic answered.

"I'm not promising anything," said Virgil, annoyed.

Logic seemed to be about to object, but again, Thomas stepped in. "Logic, I don't think he's going to give in, can we please just get this over with so we can sleep?"

"All right, Thomas," said Logic. He continued solving the problems, but not before glaring at Virgil.

Finally, Logic directed Thomas to set down the pencil, saying, "There, we're done."

"Finally!" said Thomas.

Virgil picked up the paper and inspected it. "You skipped number four," he said.

Thomas groaned. "Tomorrow."

"No! Now!" insisted Virgil.

"Tomorrow," said Logic.

"Now!" said Virgil.

"Tomorrow!"

"Now!"

"Tomorrow!"

" **Now!** "  _ Oops. _

Logic stepped backwards upon hearing Virgil's voice start to become distorted. "Okay, okay, now," he said, handing the pencil to Thomas. Thomas seemed surprised that Logic had given in, but he took the pencil.

A few minutes later, he set the pencil down. "Okay, we're done for real this time," he said.

Again, Virgil looked over the paper. It was indeed done. "Okay," he said.

"Great," said Logic. "Now, can you stop bothering us?"

"Okay, okay!" said Virgil. "Sheesh."  _ Am I too insistent? But Thomas had to get this done now, who knows if he would have had time in the morning? _

"Now it's time for all of us to go to bed," said Logic.

"Yes, yes, I know," Virgil answered, rolling his eyes.  _ Time to go back to the place where Remus can pop up at any second to startle or unnerve me. Back to the place where Janus can come point out everything I do wrong. He's probably still annoyed that he can't hide me. I hope he's asleep. Oh, I really hope they're both asleep. I don't think I can handle them right now. They're right, I'm a sissy. I can't do anything. Except ruin Janus's plans, apparently. I'm like that kid from  _ Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians _. I break everything. It's like  _ I'm _ broken. You know what, I'm  _ worse _ than Alcatraz. Even he can't break himself. _

"Anxiety?"

"Huh?" Disoriented, Virgil blinked a few times, having been jerked from his thoughts by Thomas's query.

"Aren't you gonna go to bed?" Thomas asked.

"Oh, um, right, yeah," said Virgil awkwardly, sinking out. He appeared in his room. He stood completely still by the door and listened. He heard Remus's snores, but he also heard footsteps.

"Back from your little oh-so-special excursion, are you?" sneered Janus, not bothering to knock before entering Virgil's room.

"Jealous, are you?" retorted Virgil.  _ Stupid, stupid, that barely even makes sense. Don't just mirror his words. Why can't you think of any good quips? _

"Of course I'm jealous, I definitely want to interact with those hooligans. It's not as if I'm the one keeping the rest of us a secret from them."

_ Darn it, how do I respond to that?  _ "So you've just been pouting for no reason since the day that just happened to be the first day I interfered with the main Sides without your permission? Yeah, that makes sense."  _ Aaaand we’re in a sarcasm battle. This'll end well. _

"Oh,  _ I'm _ the one pouting.  _ You _ absssolutely don't lock yourssself in your room whenever you can.  _ You _ haven't been avoiding interaction more than usssssual."

_ He's agitated enough to hiss on S's. Either this will escalate and Thomas won't be able to sleep any time soon, or he'll get frustrated enough to just leave. Why can't he just let me sleep?  _ "You say that as if you actually notice my habits."  _ Nope, that was the wrong thing to say. _

"Why would I bother to take note of your habitsssss? I don't need to account for your haplesssssnesssss and tendenciesssss in our planssss or anything."

_ Hissing twice in one word? I'll have to watch out. _ "Sure, I don't contribute to the plans at all. I'm certainly not, say, the  _ queen _ in this game of chess, who can move farther and more freely than any other piece. No, no, that’s ridiculous."

"If you aren't the queen, I'm not the player, directing your every move, trying not to fix the messsssesssss you don't get usssss into."

_ As if it wasn't bad enough he's in full sarcasm mode, he isn't even doing it right! Honestly, I don’t think he understands how sarcasm works. No use trying to explain, either. _ "Oh, yeah, you're definitely the player. There's no way you're the fragile, barely mobile piece who needs to be hidden away and protected, the glorified pawn people call the king."

"Assssss I haven't mentioned before,  _ I'm _ not the one hiding ussss. If anyone here'sssss not usssselessss, it issssssssn't you."

_ Well, that sentence was an insult no matter how you look at it. Double negative. But how do I use it against him? I bet Logic's way better at this stuff. _ "So you think you aren't useless? Hm, I wonder why you're Deceit, when you're so good at facing facts."

" _ I'm _ the one hiding from factsssss! That isssssn't you in the ssssslightessst!"

Janus rarely showed his anger, but he was doing it now, that was for sure.  _ He's clenching and unclenching his fists, his face is practically red, he's glaring almost as hard as I do sometimes. Either this is huge trouble, or he'll storm off at any second. Please, please, please… _

Janus turned sharply and stomped down the hall towards his room. Virgil shut his door, torn between relief and dread. He turned and crawled under his covers, hiding from his misery, wishing he didn't know how juvenile it would be to hope tomorrow would be better.


End file.
